The Retail Doctor

06/04/2026

For one of my “dates with Bob” that I try to do after every speech to be part of the area I speak in- not just the hotel- I chose a three hour E bike trip around Kelowna - it is an incredibly beautiful space. 

06/03/2026

Harry Friedman’s training dominated retail in the 80s and 90s. If you went through it, what did it teach you - and what do you wish it had covered?

06/02/2026

Heidi Owens West and her crew at Lifestyles of Saratoga in Saratoga Springs New York has done it again. I do feature her windows a lot. She is a client of mine with SalesRX for the last 10 years. And I am always in awe of what her and her crew esp Styling with Stacey do for their community and how they make Retail the heartbeat of Main Street. Check out their windows now, being judged for the annual competition before Belmont stakes. 

06/02/2026

Who can relate? The two personalities every business owner has - the one your friends think you have and your reality. Funny

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXpAWyREfds/?igsh=YmxycmkzcWQ1czN5

06/01/2026

The free hotel wasn't generous. It was just cheap to give. Cheap for them, and after the kind of day I'd had, expensive for me. Expensive in the only currency I had left at 3am. My time, and what was left of my patience.

My Newark-to-Vancouver flight left seven hours late last night. I missed my connection. The airline would hand me a room voucher, and I knew exactly what that room was. A $69 property, a shuttle out, a shuttle back, and a few hours of bad sleep before I did it all again at dawn.

So I booked the Fairmont inside the terminal instead. I cleared customs and was in my room in ten minutes. It cost me hundreds. It was the easiest money I've spent in a long time.

Here is what struck me lying there.

The airline scores its generosity on its own books. Low cost, easy to hand out, lets them say they took care of me. Whether it solved my actual problem at midnight never entered the math.

That is the trap retailers fall into.

You roll out the 10% off and the free shipping, and you think you are giving the customer the world. But look at why you reached for those. They are easy to standardize and they make you feel generous. The customer measures it by one question. Does this solve the problem I walked in with?

In my case, the problem was being alone in a gigantic international terminal at three in the morning. A substandard room across town does nothing for that. A comfortable bed I could reach in ten minutes was everything.

That is the gap. What is easy for you to give is rarely what the customer most needs. What they actually need usually costs you the harder currency. Your attention. Your judgment. The work of reading the person in front of you instead of reaching for the same offer you give everyone.

I paid more and felt looked after. The voucher would have left me feeling processed and probably abused.

Your customers know that difference in about four seconds. The question was never what you can take off the price. It is whether what you offer solves their problem or just makes you feel generous.

05/31/2026

Are you leading, or are you just managing?

05/30/2026

Forget spending time to smell the flowers, how about taking time to watch the Bald Eagle fly over your front view? 

05/28/2026

Wondering if it's the economy or your crew? Take the quiz.

05/28/2026

Retailers' Ace in the Hole Was Product Knowledge - in the 1950s. Here's What It Has to Be in 2026.

Product knowledge training made sense in 1955. Today's customer already researched before walking in. Here's what your sales training has to be in 2026.

05/27/2026

How to not make a small room feel cramped.